Wit Or Witout Under New Ownership, Brings Meat to Cheesesteak

Northeast Philadelphia cheesesteak shops, Wit Or Witout are now under new ownership. Tony Altomare who own’s the Tony Roni’s family of pizza shops picked up the cheesesteak shops in March. Last week, Altomare offered to send down some cheesesteaks for the Philadelphia magazine staff to check out. And since that seemed like a much better idea than going out into the heat, we happily accepted. I was also intrigued to try the cheesesteak as my first and only cheesesteak at Wit Or Witout came back in October of 2011, where eight very thin and sad slices of beef spread across a roll. The epitome of a bread sandwich.

So I was interested to see if Altomare was bringing the beef. As you can see in the above photo, today’s steak did indeed bring much more meat. Today’s steak was also better crafted and though obviously Wit Or Witout knew they were delivering steaks to the Philadelphia magazine food staff, it is a definite improvement over my last few experiences with popular cheesesteak spots that seem to bring more bread than meat.

Also of note, Wit Or Wit Out offers the choice between flat slices of steak or chopped meat. I’ve always been a fan of chopped, a product I believed of growing up four blocks from Jim’s Steaks. Others have long told me that chopping the steak beats out the flavor. But food editor Jason Sheehan and I both agreed, the chopped steak had more taste. Wit Or Witout delivered Cheez Whiz steaks to us but also offer Provolone and an American cheese sauce that reminded me of the sauce that comes with Chickie’s and Pete’s crab fries.

The sandwiches could stand to have more seasoning but both Wit Or Witout’s locations (Mayfair and Red Lion Road) do provide ample condiments that could have addressed that issue. The only real downer of the experience, the bread lacked any real crunch.

So yeah, if you find yourself in Northeast Philadelphia, we’d recommend getting a cheesesteak from the new Wit Or Witout. With chopped and sliced steak, real cheese and cheez sauces, they can make a steak that’s just for you.

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cheesy

These sandwiches look gross. Cheesesteaks are so overrated.

JA

Hard to have a sandwich roll with crunch when it’s doused in whiz and DELIVERED from NE Philly on one of the hottest days of the year. And if Jason said chopped meat was tastier…than it absolutely must be! AE, you could have at least thrown in an f word or two (or some other expletive) so we were sure Jason really participated!

http://philadelphia.foobooz.com/ Art from Foobooz

JA,

Wit or Witout uses Liscio’s rolls, so I’ll chalk this up to the elements.

JA

Wrapping (even in just paper) up a hot sandwich with moisture (i.e. Whiz) on it will dampen up a French baguette or any other crunchy bread, without help from the elements…it’s elementary!

Denise Rambo

Oh my God – that looks disgusting.

it’s just a cheesesteak

I thought the ownership must have changed. I go to the Red Lion joint a couple of times a month, and noticed there were a lot more items on the menu. I really liked this place before, and still like it now. It compares well to the local competitor (Steve’s) which the author also feels the need to diss, but is also one of the better set of steak joints in Philly. Both certainly outdo the warring tourist stands in South Philly, and compare well to Jim’s, but without the ridiculous tourist queues on a weekend.

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